What is a Health and Safety policy and what does it need to contain?

Everything you need to know about writing a health and safety policy.

 As part of The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, it is a legal requirement to have a policy in place for managing Health and Safety.

But what is a Health and Safety policy?

A Health and Safety policy sets out your general approach to health and safety and explains how you, as an employer, will manage health and safety within your business. The key to this is that it should clearly state who does what, when, and how to mitigate any risks.

If you have five or more employees, you must write your policy down. If you have fewer than five employees working at your organisation, you do not need to write anything down. However, our experience working across a variety of sectors including housing, healthcare, leisure, and education has told us that it is very useful to do so. Importantly, you must also share the policy and any changes that are made to it, with your employees.

What should your Health and Safety Policy contain?

The challenge that we frequently come across is that organisations have either a policy in place that they think is up to the required standard, but sadly is missing several of the key components. Or, they have not got one in place at all, as they are unsure about what it should include.

Here are the three key elements that all health and safety policies must cover:

Part One: Statement of Intent
This element of the policy is where you declare your commitments to managing health and safety and your aims. This should also be signed by the most senior person within the company and should be reviewed regularly – once a year at least, or in the event of incident or accident, or following any significant changes with the organisation.

Part Two: Responsibilities for Health and Safety
The responsibilities section of the policy is where you should list the names, positions, and roles of the people in your business who have specific responsibilities for health and safety. This will likely vary depending on how your organisation is managed, the size of it and the risks associated with each department.

Part Three: Arrangements for Health and Safety
The arrangements section is where you will provide details of the practical measures that you have in place to mitigate risks. Within this part of the policy, you should also show how you are going to achieve your health and safety policy aims. For instance, this could include explaining how to carry out risk assessments, training employees, and using safety signs and equipment as well as links to the relevant policies and procedures.

Are you making these common mistakes within Health and Safety Policies?

Crucial to any Health and Safety policy is ensuring it clearly states state who does what, when and how. However, this is not always the case, and in our experience, we have seen a wide range of pitfalls from organisations that have left them facing a series of compliance-related issues.

Here we’ve listed five common pitfalls we have experienced along with our tips to ensure your Health and Safety policies are correct and meet the legal requirements.

A great health and safety policy should be a ‘living document’ that is regularly updated and amended as things change within your organisation.

Key Tip: It is a good idea to make notes within the ‘master’ copy of your policy throughout the year. When it comes to the policy’s annual review, the changes can then be amended and inserted all at once.

2. The Statement of Intent is often delegated to the Director that is responsible for safety.
It is an HSE requirement to state your general policy on health and safety at work, including your commitment to managing health and safety and your aims. The most senior person in the company who holds all financial and resource control overall (usually the MD or CEO) should then sign the policy and ensure that it is reviewed regularly. The individual must have control of all the organisation in decision making.

Key tip: To avoid confusion about who is ultimately responsible for health and safety, ensure the Statement of Intent is signed off by the most senior member of staff within an organisation.

3. Organisations include a general organisational structure chart in a Health and Safety policy rather than a specific health and safety management hierarchal structure chart.

It is an HSE Requirement to list the names, positions, and roles of the people in your business who have specific responsibilities for health and safety. Any delays that arise may cause greater health and safety issues resulting in financial or legal issues.

Key tip: An electronic policy which includes photographs is easy to update and in so doing supports the need to revisit the Health and Safety policy on a regular basis.

 4. Organisations don’t revise the arrangements section of the policy and other procedures to reflect changes in business activities.

Again, it is an HSE Requirement to give details of the practical arrangements you have in place, showing how you will achieve your health and safety policy aims. This could include undertaking a risk assessment, training employees, and using safety signs or equipment.

Top tip: All risks that your employees face must be considered from office workers to field staff, to ensure that you have the correct arrangements in place for managing these risks for all staff.

5. Organisations not sharing changes to the health and safety policy with their employees.

It is a legal requirement for you to share your health and safety policy and any changes to it with your staff. All employees should receive induction training, where they should be told where to access the policy and how they can raise any health and safety issues. Failure to do so will leave you in a vulnerable legal and financial position

Top Tip: Keep your employees up to date with your policy and keep a record to note who the policy has been shared with, and when it was shared. Ideally you should get signatures from employees and visitors to evidence that everyone has received AND understood the policy content at induction and following every revision to the policy document.

Need help with your Health and Safety policy?

Creating a suitable health and safety policy can be a challenge. We understand how important it is to get it right to ensure the safety of your staff.

If you are undertaking the creation of a policy or have one in place and would like it reviewed, we can assist you. At Pennington Choices, we have over 20 years of experience providing occupational health and safety services to clients of all different sizes across a range of sectors and disciplines. Our expert and qualified Health and Safety Consultants can assist not only with your Health and Safety Policy creation and planning, but we can also act as your Competent Person to ensure that you comply with The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.